The Mechanic (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
The Mechanic is a 2011 American action thriller film starring Jason Statham
as the title character. Directed by Simon West
, it is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, directed by Michael Winner
and starring Charles Bronson
and Jan-Michael Vincent
. Statham stars as Arthur Bishop, a professional assassin who specializes in making his hits look like accidents, suicide
s or the acts of petty criminals. It was released in the United States and Canada on , 2011.
), escapes in the ensuing chaos to a nearby river, where he jumps in and makes his getaway. Bishop later meets with his friend and mentor, Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland
), who pays Bishop for his work in Colombia
. They discuss Harry's son, Steve (Ben Foster), before parting ways.
At his house, Bishop checks for his new contract only to find that he is to kill Harry. Bishop's employer confirms by phone that the contract is correct, whereupon Bishop requests a face-to-face meeting. Dean (Tony Goldwyn
) tells Bishop about a failed mission in South Africa
, in which assassins of Bishop's agency were killed. Dean relates that only two people knew about the mission—himself and Harry—and that Harry had been paid for the contract details. Bishop reluctantly kills Harry with his own gun and makes it look like a carjacking
. At his funeral, Bishop meets Steve, who tells Bishop that he's going to kill any carjacker as revenge. Bishop secretly follows Steve and interrupts him before he carries out his plan. Bishop recognizes the raw potential of Steve and decides to train him as a "mechanic
". He adopts a chihuahua
and instructs Steve to take the dog with him to a coffee shop each day at the same time. As Steve settles in to his routine, Bishop escalates his training by taking him on a contract. Bishop strangles the man with a belt, stages it to look like an erotic asphyxiation
accident, and shows Steve all the planning that went into that assassination.
Bishop informs Steve that he has a contract of his own. The target is a mechanic for another agency named Burke (Jeff Chase
), who frequents the same coffee shop to which Steve has been taking the dog. Burke's only weaknesses are that he is interested in young men and small dogs. Burke makes his move on Steve and invites him out to drinks. Bishop instructs Steve to slip a large dose of Rohypnol
into Burke's drink to cause an overdose
. Steve ignores this direction and instead goes with Burke to his apartment. Burke begins to undress, and Steve attempts to strangle him with a belt as Bishop had done. Steve manages to kill Burke after much effort. Dean expresses his disapproval of Bishop's use of Steve for the Burke contract, but Bishop replies that he was given that contract through Harry and not Dean. Angry at his indignation, Dean informs Bishop that he's on a short leash.
Bishop is given a new contract to kill Andrew Vaughn (John McConnell
), the leader of a cult-like church
. Steve and Bishop plan to inject Vaughn with adrenaline to simulate a heart attack, for which the paramedics would unknowingly administer a fatal dose of epinephrine
. While Bishop and Steve wait in the walls of Vaughn's hotel room, a doctor arrives and sets Vaughn up with an IV
of ketamine
. Realizing that the adrenaline overdose would be inhibited by the ketamine, they improvise and quickly suffocate him. When Vaughn is found by his guards, Bishop and Steve are discovered and are forced into a shootout with the guards. Bishop and Steve slip out while the building is being evacuated, and Bishop decides they should fly home separately.
At the airport, Bishop sees one of the men he was told had been killed on the South African mission that Harry had allegedly sold out. Bishop realizes during a confrontation with the man that Dean had tricked him into killing Harry and that it had been Dean who engineered the failed mission to cover up his own shady dealings. Having been misled, Bishop begins to get things in order, only to be ambushed by a group of mechanics. After taking them out, he discovers that Dean was behind the hit. Bishop races home to call Steve, only to find that Steve has also been ambushed at Bishop's house. Bishop directs Steve to a hidden gun, which Steve uses to kill his ambushers. Bishop has Steve gather supplies for their new mission while he plots how to get to Dean. In the process Steve finds his father's gun and realizes that Bishop, not carjackers, had killed Harry.
Bishop and Steve work together to kill Dean. Afterwards, on the way to a gas station, Bishop notices Harry's gun in Steve's jacket and realizes Steve has discovered the truth. Steve gets out to put gas in the truck but adjusts the nozzle so it pours on the ground instead of in the tank. With Bishop still in the truck, Steve pulls out his father's gun and shoots the gas, blowing up Bishop's vehicle and the gas station. Steve returns to Bishop's house, plays a record on the turntable
, then takes out of the garage the vintage 1966 Jaguar E-Type
coupe Bishop had been working on. As he is driving off, Steve notices a note on the passenger seat which reads: "Steve, if you're reading this then you're dead!" Steve laughs at the message, but, moments later, the car explodes, killing him. At the same time, the record player at Bishop's house finishes playing, activating a tripwire
, which causes Bishop's house to also explode. Back at the gas station, a security video reveals that Bishop had escaped from his truck moments before Steve blew it up. Bishop gets in another truck he had by the beach and drives away.
and Robert Chartoff
, producers of the 1972 original Mechanic, sought to make an update. Pre-rights to the remake were sold in February 2009 at the Berlin Film Festival. (Variety reported that the screenplay was written by Karl Gajdusek.) Director Simon West and Jason Statham
were announced as part of the project three months later. Ben Foster and Donald Sutherland
were cast alongside Statham in October 2009. Filming began in New Orleans, Louisiana
on and lasted for nine weeks. Filming locations included St. Tammany Parish
, the World Trade Center
in downtown New Orleans and the Algiers Seafood Market.
's 1827 Trio No. 2 in E-flat major for piano, violin, and violoncello
, D. 929, which is played when Bishop returns from a mission.
for the release. It was expected to perform well with male audiences, with its release a week before Super Bowl XLV
.
The film grossed on its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada. To date it has grossed a total of in those countries and in other territories, for a worldwide total of .
gives The Mechanic a score of 53% based on reviews from 150 critics, and reports a rating average of 5.6 out of 10.
At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 49% based on 35 reviews.
Roger Ebert
awarded the film two out of four stars and said, "Audiences have been drilled to accept noise and movement as entertainment. It is done so well one almost forgets to ask why it has been done at all."
website confirmed that the TV advertisement for this film had been banned from television by the Advertising Watchdog.
The TV commercial was broadcast during the teen show Glee
and received 13 viewer complaints. The advert reportedly showed "a man's head exploding" and showed a "stream of violent imagery" according to the Advertising Standards Authority
.
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
as the title character. Directed by Simon West
Simon West
Simon West is an English-born film director. West started as a film editor with the BBC, then directed documentaries and commercials including many for Budweiser...
, it is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, directed by Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
and starring Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
and Jan-Michael Vincent
Jan-Michael Vincent
Jan-Michael Vincent is an American actor best known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the 1980s U.S. television series Airwolf .-Early life:...
. Statham stars as Arthur Bishop, a professional assassin who specializes in making his hits look like accidents, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
s or the acts of petty criminals. It was released in the United States and Canada on , 2011.
Plot
A plane lands at a private hangar, and the lone passenger makes his way to his mansion with an armed escort. When he goes to have a swim in his pool, he notices his watch at the bottom of the pool and retrieves it. A stranger suddenly grabs the swimmer and holds him under until he dies. The assassin, Arthur Bishop (Jason StathamJason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
), escapes in the ensuing chaos to a nearby river, where he jumps in and makes his getaway. Bishop later meets with his friend and mentor, Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
), who pays Bishop for his work in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. They discuss Harry's son, Steve (Ben Foster), before parting ways.
At his house, Bishop checks for his new contract only to find that he is to kill Harry. Bishop's employer confirms by phone that the contract is correct, whereupon Bishop requests a face-to-face meeting. Dean (Tony Goldwyn
Tony Goldwyn
Anthony Howard "Tony" Goldwyn is an American actor and director. He portrayed the villain Carl Bruner in Ghost, Colonel Bagley in The Last Samurai, and the voice of the title character of the Disney animated Tarzan.-Early life:...
) tells Bishop about a failed mission in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, in which assassins of Bishop's agency were killed. Dean relates that only two people knew about the mission—himself and Harry—and that Harry had been paid for the contract details. Bishop reluctantly kills Harry with his own gun and makes it look like a carjacking
Carjacking
Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction,...
. At his funeral, Bishop meets Steve, who tells Bishop that he's going to kill any carjacker as revenge. Bishop secretly follows Steve and interrupts him before he carries out his plan. Bishop recognizes the raw potential of Steve and decides to train him as a "mechanic
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
". He adopts a chihuahua
Chihuahua (dog)
The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...
and instructs Steve to take the dog with him to a coffee shop each day at the same time. As Steve settles in to his routine, Bishop escalates his training by taking him on a contract. Bishop strangles the man with a belt, stages it to look like an erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation or breath control play is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. The sexual preference for that behavior is variously called asphyxiophilia, autoerotic asphyxia, hypoxyphilia. Colloquially, a person engaging in the activity is sometimes called a...
accident, and shows Steve all the planning that went into that assassination.
Bishop informs Steve that he has a contract of his own. The target is a mechanic for another agency named Burke (Jeff Chase
Jeff Chase
Jeff Chase is an American film and television actor.Chase was born Jeffrey L. Sniffen in Paterson, New Jersey. He married Kimberly Chase on January 5, 1991, and now lives in Clermont, Florida. Chase has one son, Cory Chase, born in 1998...
), who frequents the same coffee shop to which Steve has been taking the dog. Burke's only weaknesses are that he is interested in young men and small dogs. Burke makes his move on Steve and invites him out to drinks. Bishop instructs Steve to slip a large dose of Rohypnol
Flunitrazepam
Flunitrazepam is marketed as a potent hypnotic, sedative, anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, amnestic, and skeletal muscle relaxant drug most commonly known as Rohypnol...
into Burke's drink to cause an overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
. Steve ignores this direction and instead goes with Burke to his apartment. Burke begins to undress, and Steve attempts to strangle him with a belt as Bishop had done. Steve manages to kill Burke after much effort. Dean expresses his disapproval of Bishop's use of Steve for the Burke contract, but Bishop replies that he was given that contract through Harry and not Dean. Angry at his indignation, Dean informs Bishop that he's on a short leash.
Bishop is given a new contract to kill Andrew Vaughn (John McConnell
John McConnell (actor)
John "Spud" McConnell , is an American actor and radio personality based in New Orleans, Louisiana.McConnell is a character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films, ranging from obscure independent films to major cinematic release movies John "Spud" McConnell (born November 13, 1958), is an...
), the leader of a cult-like church
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
. Steve and Bishop plan to inject Vaughn with adrenaline to simulate a heart attack, for which the paramedics would unknowingly administer a fatal dose of epinephrine
Epinephrine
Epinephrine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. In chemical terms, adrenaline is one of a group of monoamines called the catecholamines...
. While Bishop and Steve wait in the walls of Vaughn's hotel room, a doctor arrives and sets Vaughn up with an IV
Intravenous therapy
Intravenous therapy or IV therapy is the infusion of liquid substances directly into a vein. The word intravenous simply means "within a vein". Therapies administered intravenously are often called specialty pharmaceuticals...
of ketamine
Ketamine
Ketamine is a drug used in human and veterinary medicine. Its hydrochloride salt is sold as Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar. Pharmacologically, ketamine is classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist...
. Realizing that the adrenaline overdose would be inhibited by the ketamine, they improvise and quickly suffocate him. When Vaughn is found by his guards, Bishop and Steve are discovered and are forced into a shootout with the guards. Bishop and Steve slip out while the building is being evacuated, and Bishop decides they should fly home separately.
At the airport, Bishop sees one of the men he was told had been killed on the South African mission that Harry had allegedly sold out. Bishop realizes during a confrontation with the man that Dean had tricked him into killing Harry and that it had been Dean who engineered the failed mission to cover up his own shady dealings. Having been misled, Bishop begins to get things in order, only to be ambushed by a group of mechanics. After taking them out, he discovers that Dean was behind the hit. Bishop races home to call Steve, only to find that Steve has also been ambushed at Bishop's house. Bishop directs Steve to a hidden gun, which Steve uses to kill his ambushers. Bishop has Steve gather supplies for their new mission while he plots how to get to Dean. In the process Steve finds his father's gun and realizes that Bishop, not carjackers, had killed Harry.
Bishop and Steve work together to kill Dean. Afterwards, on the way to a gas station, Bishop notices Harry's gun in Steve's jacket and realizes Steve has discovered the truth. Steve gets out to put gas in the truck but adjusts the nozzle so it pours on the ground instead of in the tank. With Bishop still in the truck, Steve pulls out his father's gun and shoots the gas, blowing up Bishop's vehicle and the gas station. Steve returns to Bishop's house, plays a record on the turntable
Turntable
A turntable is generally a rotating platform, and may refer to:-Music:* Turntable, a motor-driven platform that normally rotates a gramophone record at a constant rotational velocity as part of a phonograph....
, then takes out of the garage the vintage 1966 Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
coupe Bishop had been working on. As he is driving off, Steve notices a note on the passenger seat which reads: "Steve, if you're reading this then you're dead!" Steve laughs at the message, but, moments later, the car explodes, killing him. At the same time, the record player at Bishop's house finishes playing, activating a tripwire
Tripwire
A tripwire is a passive triggering mechanism. Typically, a wire or cord is attached to some device for detecting or reacting to physical movement...
, which causes Bishop's house to also explode. Back at the gas station, a security video reveals that Bishop had escaped from his truck moments before Steve blew it up. Bishop gets in another truck he had by the beach and drives away.
Cast
- Jason StathamJason StathamJason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
as Arthur Bishop - Ben Foster as Steve McKenna
- Donald SutherlandDonald SutherlandDonald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
as Harry McKenna - Tony GoldwynTony GoldwynAnthony Howard "Tony" Goldwyn is an American actor and director. He portrayed the villain Carl Bruner in Ghost, Colonel Bagley in The Last Samurai, and the voice of the title character of the Disney animated Tarzan.-Early life:...
as Dean Sanderson - John McConnellJohn McConnell (actor)John "Spud" McConnell , is an American actor and radio personality based in New Orleans, Louisiana.McConnell is a character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films, ranging from obscure independent films to major cinematic release movies John "Spud" McConnell (born November 13, 1958), is an...
as Vaughn - Mini AndénMini AndenSusanna "Mini" Andén is a Swedish model, actress, occasional host, and producer.She was born in Stockholm and began modeling at the age of ten, joining Elite Model Management when she was fifteen. She has been on the cover of many fashion magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and...
as Sarah
Production
Irwin WinklerIrwin Winkler
Irwin Winkler is an American film producer and director. He is the producer or director of 50 major motion pictures, dating back to 1967's Double Trouble, starring Elvis Presley. The fourth film he produced, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? , starring Jane Fonda, was nominated for nine Academy Awards...
and Robert Chartoff
Robert Chartoff
Robert Chartoff is an American film producer. He and fellow producer Irwin Winkler won an Academy Award for Best Picture for the 1976 film Rocky....
, producers of the 1972 original Mechanic, sought to make an update. Pre-rights to the remake were sold in February 2009 at the Berlin Film Festival. (Variety reported that the screenplay was written by Karl Gajdusek.) Director Simon West and Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
were announced as part of the project three months later. Ben Foster and Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
were cast alongside Statham in October 2009. Filming began in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
on and lasted for nine weeks. Filming locations included St. Tammany Parish
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
St. Tammany Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, in the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. The parish seat is Covington....
, the World Trade Center
World Trade Center New Orleans
Prior to June 2011, the World Trade Center of New Orleans was housed in the historic World Trade Center Building, located at 2 Canal Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana...
in downtown New Orleans and the Algiers Seafood Market.
Music
The soundtrack music is by Mark Isham, with the exception of Franz SchubertFranz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's 1827 Trio No. 2 in E-flat major for piano, violin, and violoncello
Piano Trio No. 2 (Schubert)
The Trio No. 2 in E-flat major for piano, violin, and violoncello, D. 929, was one of the last compositions completed by Franz Schubert, dated November 1827. It was published by Probst as opus 100 in late 1828, shortly before the composer's death and first performed at a private party in January...
, D. 929, which is played when Bishop returns from a mission.
Theatrical run
The Mechanic was released in the United States and Canada on , 2011. Millennium Films sold U.S. distribution rights to CBS FilmsCBS Films
CBS Films is an American film production company founded in 2007, a feature film division of CBS Corporation. CBS Films is located on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.-Company history:...
for the release. It was expected to perform well with male audiences, with its release a week before Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League champion for the 2010 season. The game was held at Cowboys Stadium in...
.
The film grossed on its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada. To date it has grossed a total of in those countries and in other territories, for a worldwide total of .
Critical reception
Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives The Mechanic a score of 53% based on reviews from 150 critics, and reports a rating average of 5.6 out of 10.
At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 49% based on 35 reviews.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
awarded the film two out of four stars and said, "Audiences have been drilled to accept noise and movement as entertainment. It is done so well one almost forgets to ask why it has been done at all."
TV advertisement ban
On 1 June 2011, the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
website confirmed that the TV advertisement for this film had been banned from television by the Advertising Watchdog.
The TV commercial was broadcast during the teen show Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
and received 13 viewer complaints. The advert reportedly showed "a man's head exploding" and showed a "stream of violent imagery" according to the Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority may refer to:*Advertising Standards Bureau *Advertising Standards Authority *Advertising Standards Authority *Advertising Standards Authority...
.